


Midnight

by talefeathers



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Angst, Gen, Insomnia, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:44:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7000027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is around midnight when the guilt begins to pool in Benvolio's stomach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight

Benvolio knew, most of the time, that none of it had been his fault. He knew that there had been a lot of chance involved, a lot of rotten luck, a lot of things he couldn’t have known about ahead of time. A lot of things that he probably could not have changed even if he had known.

Most of the time, he knew all that, and he managed to keep his head above the guilt. It was only around midnight, if he was still awake, that the brackish stuff found its way into his lungs and his gut and his mind.

Romeo would never have met Juliet, it reminded him, if Benvolio had not suggested they crash the Capulets’ party.

Tybalt would never have challenged Romeo, it hissed, if they had not been at the party for Tybalt to see.

They’d still be alive if it weren’t for him, and if Benvolio was awake at midnight it would only be because Mercutio was a creature of summer darkness who hated to drink alone, because Romeo was in love with love and the stars turned him into a poet, because midnight had _belonged_ to them.

And now it belongs to me, whispered the guilt pooling in Benvolio’s stomach as he lay in his bed, vision blurring. Now and forevermore, it belongs to me.


End file.
